Team India suffered a disappointing 31-run loss in the first ODI against South Africa in Paarl.
Indian skipper KL Rahul said that his side will take learnings from the defeat against South Africa in the first ODI in Paarl.
Team India suffered a 31-run defeat against the Proteas in the first game of the three-match ODI series. Asked to bowl first, the visitors had a great start to the match as they reduced the hosts to 68/3.
However, after that Temba Bavuma and Rassie van der Dussen joined hands and bailed their team out of trouble after a sloppy start. The duo steadied the South African ship and stitched 204 runs partnership with both batters registering centuries.
Read Also: All-round South Africa beat India by 31 runs to take 1-0 lead in ODI series
While the skipper scored 110, Rassie van der Dussen remained unbeaten on 129 and helped his side post a total of 296 runs on the board.
Chasing the target, after India lost skipper KL Rahul early, Shikhar Dhawan (79) and Virat Kohli (51) batted comfortably for their 92-run partnership and it seemed that the visitors will carve their way to an easy victory.
However, after the wickets of Dhawan and Kohli, India lost wickets in quick succession and found themselves in all sorts of trouble. Shardul Thakur tried his best and smashed a fiery fifty but in the end, the target was too much as the visitors fell 31 runs short to go 0-1 down in the series.
Speaking at the post-match presentation, Indian skipper KL Rahul said that there’s so much to learn for them from this game. He pointed out the areas where his side lacked, saying that they thought they would chase the target easily but South Africa bowled well.
"It was a nice game. There's so much to learn. We started off really well, we couldn't get wickets in the middle. We'll look to see how we get wickets in the middle overs and stop the opposition.
“The middle-order couldn't get going. We were on par for the first 20-25 overs of the game. I thought we would chase it down easily but SA bowled really well and got crucial wickets," KL Rahul said.
While talking about wicket Rahul said that he’s not sure whether it changed or not. He revealed that Virat Kohli and Shikhar Dhawan told them it was a good wicket to bat but they couldn’t get partnerships going.
Read Also: “Baffled me”, Aakash Chopra questions India’s decision to not bowl Venkatesh Iyer in 1st ODI
"I didn't bat after the 20th overs, I don't know if the wicket changed drastically. Virat and Shikhar told that it was a good wicket to bat on, you just had to spend some time in the middle, unfortunately, we couldn't get the partnership going," he said.
Rahul lauded South Africa for their batting performance. He while admitting that the Proteas scored 20 runs extra, highlighted that they needed more partnerships in the middle.
"They did really well, they put pressure on the bowlers and we couldn't get those wickets in the middle. 290+ was 20 runs extra, but we just needed more partnerships in the middle. Every game is important for us, we all want to go out there and give our best performances," he said.
KL Rahul further said that his side have World Cup in mind and they want to play the best XI on the park and will learn from the mistakes.
"We haven't played one-day cricket for a while, we have the WC in mind and we want to get the best XI on the park. We'll make mistakes but we'll learn from them," he concluded.
The second ODI between the teams will be played on 21st January at the same venue.
(ANI inputs)